Shoe-thrower takes aim at John Howard

The man in the audience who threw his shoes at former prime minister John Howard on ABC TV's Q and A program aired on October 25, 2010.

ABC TV

A Newcastle man who threw his shoes at the former Prime Minister John Howard has apologised for disrupting the ABC's Q&A program.

Peter Gray hurled his shoes at Mr Howard as he was defending his government's decision to send Australian troops into Iraq.

"I did it so there was a chance that tens of thousands of people in the rest of the world particularly in the Middle East could see that not every Australian was behind the decision to invade and ruin Iraq," he said.

The audience yelled and booed as Mr Gray was being escorted from the ABC studio.

"If I have any regrets its certainly to Tony Jones and Q+A. Tony Jones deserves respect but I can't say John Winston Howard deserves respect," he said.

"Just before I threw the shoes I said my apologies to Tony Jones and expected him to take it as a comment."

Mr Gray says he's not disappointed his shoes missed their target.

" It was a difficult thing to do but certainly there was more in the symbol of throwing the shoes at John Howard than actually hitting him."